The other thing I want to say first is that I'm a little nervous in publishing this post for a couple reasons. The book isn't totally and completely thorough. What I mean by that is that there are all these pesticides and chemicals talked about in the treatment of barley, rice, corn, wheat but from the reading we never know if this is the exact stuff that's used specifically on brewing grains or non-brewing grains. I'm not sure how to find out. With that said, it still makes and interesting list. Also, I've checked out the data from New Belgium about the carbon footprint of a six pack of their Fat Tire Amber Ale. Pretty interesting document. Under the grains and hops sections they identify that there is a host of chemicals used in production but "the [Greenhouse Gases] associated with these chemicals are vanishingly small when allocated to a single 6-pack of [Fat Tire]." That is, of course, in relation to all the various other things that also go into existence of a 6-pack of the beer, including shipping the grains, malting, the glass bottle, the adhesive for the label, the transportation of the beer itself, etc. I just wanted to point that out. But on the flipside, remember that in the post yesterday New Belgium did indeed tell us that the carbon footprint is actually lower for shipping organic hops from New Zealand than it is to use non-organic hops from the US. Just interesting to note all that...
After reading this list, I'm curious to know what you all think about organic beers, whether you care or not if your beer is organic, if it means anything to you, etc. Without further ado, here are some of the pesticides and chemicals listed in the book Fermenting Revolution used for the production of grains:
Round Up
[Round Up contains the active agent Glyphosate, which was reported in California to be the] third-most commonly reported cause of pesticide illness for agricultural workers. For landscape maintanence workers it ranked highest...Barley, planted a year after treatment still contained residues at harvest time. According to a study led by RL Tominack that included Monsanto's own toxicologist, ingestion of Round Up has been shown to cause "irritation of the oral mucous membrane and gastrointestinal tract...pulmonary dysfunction, oliguira, metabolic acidosis, hypotension, luekocytosis and fever."...It has been linked to non-Hodkin's lympoma, the worse of the two main forms of lymphoma....Spraying of Round Up prior to planting barley increased the severity of Rhizoctonia root rot and actually decreased barley yield. (pgs 174-75)Dicamba
Dicamba is an herbicide used to kill unwanted broadleaf plants in corn and wheat crops. In humans, exposure to dicamba is associated with the inhibition of the nervous system enzyme acetylcholinesterase and an increased frequence of non-Hodkin's lymphoma...Dicamba also causes genetic damage in human blood cells, bacteria, and barley...[It is mobile in soil and has been found to contaminate] groundwater in at least 17 US States. (p 175)Triademefon
Triademefon is a fungicide used on grains, fruit trees, vegetables, and grapes. It is a known carcinogen but was long used as a food additive in milled barley and wheat. [It was banned in 1985.] (pgs 176-77)Malathion
Malathion is one of the most extensively used organophosphate insecticides around the globe...Not only does it kill a wide variety of fish [when it's used near any natural body of water], including steelhead trout, striped bass, and starry flounders, it inhibits plant photosynthesis, growth and respiration of wheat seedlings, and causees damage to the chromosomes in pollen cells from barley plants, resulting in chlorophyll mutations...Based on [FDA] residue analyses, it is the most commonly detected pesticide in food products...In 1988 the EPA estimated that children could be consuming [it] 1,133% and adults 507% over the amount currently determined to be unsafe. (p 177)Ethyl Parathion
Ethyl parathion...is considered to be one of the most toxic pesticides currently in use worldwide and has been shown to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of birds. It has also killed domestic mammals, including humans, in cases where applicators mishandled the chemical. It's toxicity promted the EPA to restrict its use in 1991 to nine US grown crops, including brewing grains like barley, corn, sorghum, and wheat. (p 177)
2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid...is applied to wheat, corn, barley, rice, and oats...toxic to the eye, thyroid, kidney, adrenals, and ovaries/testes. In 2003 The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported than children aged 6-11 had significantly higher levels of it than youth aged 12-19. It has been linked to childhood cancers including leukemia, NHL, and some brain cancers. (pgs 177-78)Diazinon
[Diazinon has ethylbenzene and zylene, both of which are chronically toxic. In barley it causes abnormal cell division in root tip cells. It's use has been linked to an increased risk of non-Hodkin's lymphoma.] In 1990 the FDA found that it was the eighth most commonly detected pesticide out of 200 analyzed. Two EPA surveys found it to be the 6th most frequent cause of accidental death due to pesticides and the sixth most frequent cause of pesticide-related hospitalizations. (p 178)Endosulfan
Endosulfan...is currently registered to control insects and mites on 60 US crops, including barley. Yet many other countries have banned its use out of concern over its health and environmental effects, and they have found and implemented safer alternatives. This neurotoxin is rated by the EPA as a Category I pesticide with extremely high acute toxicity. Health effects of accidental exposure include central nervous system disorders such as dizziness, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. Exposure has been linked to dozens of deaths in the US and around the world. (pg 180)Yummy!
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I think your right in being cautious in posting stuff like this, especially when you don’t know how or when these products are being used. I have worked in agriculture for a number of years in Australia so what I’m writing here is from my first hand experience.
ReplyDeleteFirstly the chemicals listed (and all broad acre chemicals) are tools that are used when needed. They are not all used all the time.
I also think its pretty dangerous and irresponsible to say “chemicals are bad”. These are all tools or products that have been tested, approved and have regulations for use. I wouldn’t want to drink them or put them on my cereal, but that would be just plain stupid.
In grain production the majority of these are used in preparing land for a crop or to control pests and weeds as the crop is growing. This sees very few of the products applied directly to the grain, hence the brewer/maltster saying that there is little or no difference to the malt. Again this comes back to saying organic beer is no different to all other beer, it just gives people choice. It can support different production systems that may have environmental or health benefits (may not will) but these will be at the farm, not the brewery or malt house. Its also worth noting that there have been numerous studies showing that eating organic food has little or no health benefit.
Again just my rant, I get annoyed at the connotations in the organic discussion that conventional farmers are somehow doing bad things to the world.
Hey Darren, Thanks again for your comments. It is interesting to note that the majority of problems associated with these chemicals comes from a mishandling of them. Your comments on the last post have had me thinking a lot about the efficiency question of organic farms, although I still believe that the more energy and money put into organic research the better it will get.
ReplyDeleteI think I tried to approach the subject today from a non-militant perspective, the chemicals do cause problems, although I didn't outright say we should never be using these things because I don't think that's a responsible way to handle the topic either...although I'm sure you can tell that 'secretly' I prefer organic.
Feel free to expand on any of your thoughts here on the blog any time you want. Like I said I appreciate your balance to the discussion.
Cheer Eric, I guessed you had Organic leanings Eric, I have good produce and good farming systems leanings myself. I will take you to task on saying we need more money and research ect. on Organic farming. We need it on all farming, not just one small part of farming, there are other environmentaly friendly type farming systems. They just arnt marketed as well as Organic.
ReplyDeleteI still think organic is often more hype than substance. Choosing a product flown around the world rather than a local product just because its organic is just plain stupid to me.
I bet if you knew that one of the chemicals listed above was present in every beer you consumed at a level of five percent, you would never touch the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like and drink beer. I just think it's a little hypocritical to leave out the colorless chemical present in beer that has been established to cause cancers and brain damage.
ReplyDeleteFrom Toxipedia: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) states that "alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic to humans (Group 1)" and concluded that "the occurrence of malignant tumors of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colorectum, and female breast is causally related to alcohol consumption." Alcohol is also associated with a general increase in cancer of other organs and interacts synergistically with smoking, putting smokers who drink at a greater risk for developing cancer. There is increasing evidence that alcohol consumption by women increases the risk for breast cancer.
You worry about pesticides and herbicides that are present in such low levels as to be undetectable in beer... but as for a clear solvent at a level of 5% - that's no problem.
@Anonmyous - I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me. Did I leave something out? Which chemical are you referring to? What am I being hypocritical about?
ReplyDeleteIn your thought process about the production of beer and why people should be worried about how their food is produced and what they are consuming, you left out the chemical alcohol.
ReplyDeleteYou are concerned with chemicals used in the production of grains and hops; you worry about their effect on the environment and human health. You go into great detail listing the toxicology of pesticides and herbicides and their potential deleterious effects when misused.
You worry that you and the environment are being harmed by the production of non-organic hops - which as you know is not present in beer at a level of >5%, making the use of non-organic hops in organic beer a non-issue in terms of qualification as an organic product.
The ingestion of the chemical alcohol is a greater risk to your personal health than the chemicals you list above.
The requirement that hops be grown organically is a greater risk to human & US farm sustainability than the chemicals listed above when used appropriately.
Hops are not easy to grow. Weed control, pest, & disease management are the big challenges to production. Hop diseases include: mildew, canker, root tor, wilt, and viruses. Hop powdery mildew is a significant problem responsible for complete crop failures in the past. Downy mildew can affect perennial crowns and cones. These facts make the available sites for hop growing very limited - New Zealand being one.
No matter the farm size, big or small, no hop farmer can withstand complete crop failures. It is not sustainable.
Before you cheer the passage of this law, go talk to a farmer. Spend some time learning what your are asking them to do. Pick up a hoe. Talk with them about their financial status. As Eisenhower said: Farming looks mighty easy when you're plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles away...
So hypocritical? Voicing concern for the environment and human health by focusing on chemical toxicology taken out of context and ignoring the elephant in the room - you drink a beverage with documented health risks. You cheer the slaying of the big organic producers without recognizing the affect on your small local farmer. Hypocritical is a nice way of putting it. It means you are making a choice. The alternative is that you are ignorant. That is something I don't want to say because I don't know you and could therefore be wrong. But it strikes me, that as much as you are an intelligent guy (based on this site) and love beer and the amazing fact that it exists - you are disconnected from the land from which it comes.
I just wandered by in surfing. I probably won't post again Also, I don't mean to disrupt the otherwise great things found on your site.
Carry on.
Anonymous - Thanks for your thoughts and your information. I would be interested in learning more when the time suits me.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I'm slaying anybody here, I'm just listing some chemicals I read about in this book. I thought it was an interesting chapter. I would say to this specific topic I am indeed more ignorant than hypocritical. I would prefer people to use organic hops rather than ones with lots of bad chemicals. That's all I've said.
Concerning alcohol:
Beer has alcohol in it, that's that. If you drink beer you deal with that fact. No one is hiding that, and it's not an elephant in the room. All beer drinkers know they are consuming alcohol when they drink. Here I'm listing some other things that we don't already know about, I don't think that's hypocritical.